1. 5 th Bi-Annual Border to Border Transportation Conference McAllen, Texas November 18-20, 2014 US-Mexico Cross-Border Freight Traffic Trends Geza Pesti, Ph.D., P.E. and Rafael Aldrete-Sanchez, Ph.D. Center for International Intelligent Transportation Research Texas A&M Transportation Institute

2. Objectives Update trends and statistics in freight activities across the US- Mexico border Identify unexpected changes. Approach Analyze cross-border freight by Mode of transport Ports and destination states Commodities Average Wait Times of Commercial Vehicles at POEs

3. Surface Trade between U.S. and Mexico Early 2000s Recession 2007 Global Financial Crisis

4. Surface Trade between U.S. and Mexico

5. Trade by Surface Mode

6. Surface Trade by US States TexasCaliforniaMichiganArizonaIllinois Millions USD 0.5 % -3.5% 7.9% 8.4% 22.5% States Ranked Based on Value of Goods Traded with Mexico

7. Freight Flow by Commodities Change in the freight value was evaluated based on six commodity groups: Group 1: Food, beverages, agricultural commodities (HS-code: 1-24) Group 2: Minerals, chemicals, plastic, fossil fuels (HS-code: 25-40) Group 3: Wood, fabrics, paper products, books (HS-code: 41-71) Group 4: Metals, metallic materials (HS-code: 72-81) Group 5: Manufactured goods (HS-code: 82-96) Group 6: Other goods (HS-code: 97-99)

8. Export by Commodity Groups

9. Import by Commodity Groups

10. Import of Manufactured Goods

11. Import of Minerals, Chemicals, …etc

12. ZaragozaWorld TradePharr ColombiaBrownsvilleBOTA Average Waiting Times of Commercial Vehicles Data Collection Period: May 2013 – April 2014 Source: Border Crossing Information System (http://bcis.tamu.edu/) minutes

13. Findings Trade has quadrupled from 1995 to 2013. Imports exceeded U.S. exports by 15-20 %. Freight by trucks are 4-5 times higher than rail Freight at Texas POEs is more than in the other three states combined. Manufactured goods are the highest value commodity shipped across the border (both ways). Import of manufactured goods has significantly decreased in 2013. Import of minerals, chemicals, plastic, fossil fuels has significantly increased in 2013. Summary